Tall Trees
by Lord Kristine
Summary: A story that keeps being told, because we never learn from it.


In ancient Cambodia, there existed a race of humans that lived off the land, more advanced than most cultures in the realm of technology, but isolated from their neighbors by a vast mountain range. They differed from outside communities in that they maintained a symbiotic relationship with another race that was considered their equal: the stegoceratops. These dinosaurs, thought to have been created by the gods, lived peacefully among humans. Some had businesses of their own, and others worked for human employers, but there was never any doubt that they were friends of mankind. The two races lived together, worked together, played together, and eventually, there came a time when they bred together. They produced fertile offspring, but this was unsurprising, because the humans and stegoceratops had no reason to believe that they were all that different.

This changed.

After a long drought, it became necessary to tend the fields regularly and work harder than ever before. The humans noticed for the first time how strong the stegoceratops race was by comparison, and encouraged them to plow the fields. This had the unfortunate result of decreasing the time young stegoceratops could devote to their schoolwork, yet despite the increase in physical labor, the yielded crops were unimpressive. In these troubled times, it became necessary to adapt to an unforgiving world, and when a young politician promised to restore the former glory of the colony, his election seemed like the only option.

The climate does not submit to the needs of the people so affected by it. The land was still dry and infertile, and there was a sense of discontentment throughout the isolated society. The new leader addressed this issue one night, giving a speech that shed light upon their dire circumstance. He stated that the farming industry was suffering because of the laziness of the stegoceratops, who were foolishly demanding that the humans assist them. The dinosaur race was inferior, he said, because they were demonstrably inept in matters of complex thinking. He compared the skull of a dinosaur to the skull of a human, and with this evidence in mind, it seemed to the humans that he was quite right, and something needed to be done about this saurian menace.

Over the course of a year or two, something changed in the way news was spread. The stegoceratops were portrayed differently in illustrations, exaggerated to the point of being all but unrecognizable. No one questioned it, because there was no doubt that these horned demons deserved the sting of an unforgiving media, lazy as they were. And then there was the matter of dinosaurs hoarding all the crops. It was a well-known fact that they required more food than humans.

As hatred of the stegoceratops race grew, so did the need to reinforce the status of human beings. It was getting harder and harder to find pure humans, as they had been breeding with the stegoceratops for so long. It was no surprise, then, that promotional posters began to appear on what had once been empty walls, explaining the state's guidelines for marriage and sexual union. If the human race was to be preserved, it seemed only logical that they ought to make an effort to breed selectively, and it wasn't a problem for most people, who were disgusted by the mere prospect of lying with a dinosaur.

Gradually, the number of stegoceratops living on their own began to fall, and they were instead managed by human entrepreneurs. There were rumors that they were being "helped" into this position, but the government could not confirm that dinosaur property was being seized. It wouldn't have mattered, anyway, because everyone was sure that the stegoceratops had far too much wealth in the first place.

Eventually, the participation of stegoceratops in human matters was banned altogether under the pretense that they would slow progress with their subpar intelligence. They were made for working in the fields, and yet there were those that asked for more. They were called stubborn for this reason, and the leader, now secure in his post, proposed a solution for this conflict of interest. If the stegoceratops would not respect the authority of the racially pure, they would be made to work by force.

The stegoceratops were chained and shipped across the province in droves. The fittest among them were sold to humans who required free labor, and those who were considered less valuable were taken to government-owned land. Among these dinosaurs, there were also a few humans, who had been specially selected. If they displayed birth defects, mental or physical, they were deemed to be no better than a stegoceratops, and thus were meant to be treated as animals also.  
Those who were taken away by the government were never seen again. It was not uncommon for a lifeless stegoceratops to be found with a bullet wound, yet distressing as this was, no one noticed the connection between this event and a conversation among humans who were discussing how to improve their aim. And of course the corporations in charge of manufacturing brands never once imagined that their products would be used on anything but cattle, and if they did, they'd count their money to forget.

It was easier to turn the blind eye, because the human population was placated with abundant meat that provided relief after a period of starvation, and it did not occur to them to ask where this meat came from. According to the government, the province was flourishing, and if there were rumors of inhumane experimentation such as vivisection and live dissection, it was probably just stegoceratops propaganda. Never mind the abandoned stegoceratops corpse that seemed to have been pregnant the day before: there was no proof that the lacerations were made by human hands. What did it matter, anyway, when business was booming? If you worked in a firearms factory or a chemical lab, you had it made. It couldn't possibly matter what your newly-mixed gas was being used for. No one you cared about was suffering for it.

And this went on for years. It was unnoticed by some, but others began to grow suspicious. Even with access to this information, certain humans remained apathetic to the stegoceratops plight. The end justifies the means, as they always say. In order to preserve- or strengthen- the human race, sacrifices would have to be made. And considering the species that was being trampled, it could be argued that the sacrifice was minimal.

It was perfectly legal to slaughter animals.

Yet with this in mind, it was difficult to conceal the truth entirely. When human soldiers casually buried dinosaur corpses whose faces were frozen in permanent agony, there was always one man who would hesitate during the grim task. He might look upon the mass grave and see the victims through different eyes. The humans had been taught to believe that what mattered was the signifiers that indicated a difference between the two races. Humans did not have horns or beaks or plates, and therefore they were not dinosaurs. But if one really took the time to think, they might ponder the fact that for every difference, there were countless similarities. Eyes, tongues, hearts, faces . . . both groups shared these traits, and they were arguably the most important of all. So who was to say that the two races were really all that different, and more importantly, what lesson could be drawn from this tragedy? It was hard to say for sure, but even so, there was an uncomfortable implication with regards to this act.

They were killing their own kind.


End file.
